Mama

I think Junior knows what he's saying. If DH is holding him and he sees me across the room he will start with, "Mamamamama!" and start crawling towards me. As soon as he gets to me, he stops, puts his thumb in his mouth and is content - well, as content as he can be. In the middle of the night when he wakes up, it is, "Mamamama!" He will babble with all sorts of sounds, but he is deliberate when he repeats Mama.

I know six months is supposed to be too early for that, but I swear he knows what he is saying.

Colorful language

I sure am glad I don't really cuss.

Last night I was giving Handsome his bath and my band-aid apparently fell off in the water. I had what I thought was an infected cut so I obviously didn't want Handsome exposed. Handsome pointed to the band-aid and asked, "That?" I was surprised and without thinking said, "Oh, crap!" Then I hear, Handsome, "Oh, Cap!" Maybe people will think he's talking about a hat.

I told the Cap story to DH after I put Handsome to bed, and he laughed and said earlier that day he said, "Holy, Moly!" to something that upset him, and Handsome responded with, "Holy, Moe!" So DH told Handsome, "Hey, dude, don't do that!" Handsome: "Hey, dude!" Right after DH told me this story, we hear on the monitor, "Hey dude!" And then Handsome cracks up at his own joke. LOL.

He sings!!

Every night I sing Twinkle Twinkle to Handsome. He sings with me but rarely gets the words in the right spot or the notes right. I think it's adorable though and we both laugh through the whole song.

Many nights before I start Handsome's bath and bedtime routine, we play La-La-Lullaby. It's on PBS Sprout:

http://www.sproutonline.com/sprout/videos/detail.aspx?program=pajanimals&subset=By_Show
(search for the La La Lullaby)

Sometimes he sits quietly and watches. Sometimes he runs around the room trying to get out the last of his energy. Many - most - times he looks at DH and I and makes sure that we are singing along, because, well, it's a requirement. It's one of the few times DH actually sings along to one of Handsome's songs and Handsome is well aware that this is his one opportunity for DH to sing for him.

So last night? Last night he sat between DH and I and sang the whole song with us!!!!!! He got almost every word in the refrain and was even getting the majority of the notes right!! He stared DH in the face for almost the entire song, seeming to make sure that they were both singing the song together. DH could barely compose himself enough to sing the song because he was so shocked that Handsome all of the sudden could sing the whole song and knew all the words. I was a little more prepared because of our nightly Twinkle routine, but DH had never heard Handsome sing quite like this. Honestly my mouth was just as wide in surprise, but Handsome wasn't staring at me so it was easier for me.

DH gave Handsome a huge hug afterwards and was so proud of him. He said he was going to call his father today to brag on Handsome. He declared that since this showed how grown up Handsome is, his father would reply with, "So when are you having the next one?" Great. No pressure. Really.

Handsome surprises me everyday.

My favorite sounds

Things that I love that Handsome says:

"Hold you!" - When he wants to be held, he holds up his hands and says, "Hold You!" Adorable

"Bubbles!" - When he says bubbles, he sticks out his little lips like he's going to kiss you.

"Thank you!" - When he gets his milk or whatever he wanted he always says thank you.

"You're welcome!" - When we say you're welcome he has to repeat it.

"Please!" - If his first request doesn't work, he starts in with the please...

"Mommy!" - He finally started regularly saying mommy a couple weeks ago. It sounds a little like mimi, but I'll take it.

"Night Night!" - He knows when it's bedtime.

"La la" - We watch La La Lullaby on Sprout at night. Not every night, but enough to where he knows when it's coming and says la la.

"I fall!" - He says this when pointing to his most recent wound, but also whenever he falls... which happens often.

"I got you!" - He got this from a game that he and DH play. He'll come up and grab you and say I got you.

"Kiss!" - When he wants a kiss he'll ask for it.

"Music!" - He takes after his father and always wants music playing.

Twinkle, Twinkle...

Handsome's favorite channel is PBS Sprout. He pretty much loves everything about the channel - including the Verizon commercial where the phone is also a calculator ("Phone?"), and the potty dance commercial where he dances along with them. He picks up the oddest things.

He likes the Play With Me Sesame show. The main characters are Grover, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, and Prairie somethin-or-other. Occasionally Elmo makes an appearance, and I tell Handsome who Elmo is, but he didn't seem to pay attention. Then we went to Target the other day and I hear "ELMO!!" coming from my cart. He spotted Elmo and was SOO excited. I don't get it. He has Ernie and Cookie Monster at home, but they are apparently not on the same level as Elmo.

He also loves the Goodnight Show with Nina and Star. He gets so excited when he sees them. He even practices the sign language they teach and stretches when Nina is teaching yoga.

But the reason I mention Sprout, is they sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star every night. He LOVES it. I started singing it to him and he just wants me to sing it over and over and... well, you get the point. So last night before I put him to bed we knelt down and prayed, as always, and he says, "Amen. Amen." Then I sang Jesus Loves Me, as I sing every night to him. While I was singing Jesus Loves Me, I hear him singing "Tinka, Tinka, eh eh ah..." Apparently he's trying to hint to me to change my song. I put him to bed, and after I leave the room I hear on the monitor, "Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen...." And then after he has been in bed and quiet for lets say an hour, we hear on the monitor, "Tinka, Tinka, eh eh ah..." And then, after another hour or so of quiet, "Tinka, Tinka, eh eh ah..." Each time DH and I would crack up laughing which was loud enough for Handsome to hear so he would start laughing too.

I love that little boy. He makes me so happy.

The banana song

So I took Handsome to the post office and then to the grocery store this morning. I had to return the faulty dvr and then get bananas and diapers. We haven't had bananas in a few weeks because the last time I went to the grocery store they were out of bananas. What grocery store completely runs out of bananas? Anyway, he keeps pointing to the counter and asking, "Nana? Nana?" When I say we don't have any the fits begin. And, well, bananas are healthy, so I decided to make a special trip to get them.

When the bananas were in the cart he kept trying to reach back and get them. When we got into the car I told him he would get a banana as soon as we got home, so for the drive home he started singing "Nana nana nana" He made up his own little jig and it was the cutest thing I've heard! He's done the repeating thing, but this one was an actual song! Each "nana" had different notes and different loudness. My little singer. :)

Animal sounds

Ok, this may be late for most kids, but with Handsome we are just getting here. Handsome knows animal sounds now and will actually say them!! It has taken forever, but he is finally starting to parrot sounds and try to speak. I think we are in the whole "word explosion" that people talk about.

What does a cow say?
"Cah?"
Yes, what does a cow say?
"MBooo!"
Teehee.

What does a sheep say?
"Ba-a-a-a" (he even does the pauses)
Teehee.

What does a dog say?
"Dah?"
Yes, what does a dog say?
"Ruff Ruff Ruff Ruff.." (in rapid succession)
Teehee.

What does a cat say?
"Caa?"
Yes, what does a cat say?
"meow meow" (and then he laughs)
Teehee.

What does a duck say?
"Duh?"
Yes, what does a duck say?
"Cack!"
Teehee.

What does the monkey say?
"Who-who-who-who"
Teehee.

What does a pig say?
"AAAHHHH"
Hahahaha. I don't know why the pig just screams.

Snow!

It's snowing! I didn't get to be there when Handsome saw the snow this morning, but I was on the phone a little later. He kept walking to the window and laughing and pointing. He'd point, talk to the outside, then look up at DH, put his arms out to the side and say, "I no no!?" (Translated: I don't know!?). LOL!

I wish I could have been there.

Veggies

I made vegetable soup tonight. And Handsome ate an entire bowl plus more! Apparently if I want him to eat his veggies I should just make soup.

And another new word

Co = cold.

For those who pray, please pray for DH. He has two finals tomorrow and I'm nervous about both. He says he isn't, but I am.

And then I have a TON of work to get done before the end of the week. This is going to be a hard week. Last week sucked and this week doesn't look like it's going to be much better.

Lord, please give me the strength to make it through this week.

New Words

No - (self-explanatory)

Nen - "chicken" in Dagaare

Sheh - same word for both shoe and sock.

I'm liking this talking thing. I'm assuming there are other words that he says that we just don't recognize yet. I know there are a ton in Dagaare that I don't understand and DH hasn't classified as words yet.

And you know what he learned last night? The meaning of, "Please put that back where you got it, Handsome." Yay!! I had to walk with him and help him for a few times, but then he finally understood and started putting things back all by himself and laughing all the way from the sheer joy of understanding eachother. I love being witness to the learning process. It's a beautiful thing to see a child's mind blossoming.

Handsome is such a blessing. I love him more and more every day. When I see the pain around me of friends losing their children, I just want to hold Handsome even tighter and cry. I want to cry for the joy of having my own miracle and for the thought of how painful it would be if I ever lost him. I don't know what I would do. I think motherhood teaches empathy. The day the two lines show up is the day our hearts and minds change forever. I cry for children that scrape their knees and even for children laughing with joy. The depths of my joy and sorrow have stretched beyond anything I've ever felt before. Being a mother is the greatest gift from God and I thank Him every day for the gift I have been given.

Mama and Dada

I think Handsome says words for Mama and Dada too. It's kinda funny how he has picked them up too. I of course talk about his dad so I say Daddy and Dada when I talk about DH. DH talks about me, but he's talking in Dagaare to Handsome so he says Nma for Mama. So Handsome is saying Dada in English (instead of Dagaare Baba) and Mama in Dagaare as Nma.

I got a picture book for him to learn the names of animals. As one would expect it has the pictures of each animal with the name below. The page that you open to is the title page and just has six representative pictures of what to expect in the book. Those six pictures do not have the names written below. Handsome's favorite page? The page without the names. This is fine because as the mom I should know the names right? Right. I was calling the reindeer an elk until I finally decided I needed to know the actual name and had to look it up. And then there was the cockatoo. I didn't know the name. I had to look it up. Now it's Handsome's favorite because of how it sounds. I also had to look up the leopard because I still think it looks like a cheetah and I wanted to be sure. Reindeer. Cockatoo. Leopard. Ladybug. Dog. Chameleon. Got it.

First words that I've so far classified as words:
Samson (Sasa),
banana (nana),
Daddy (Dada),
Mommy (Nma).

First Words

Ok, I don't know if I'm getting ahead of myself here or not, but I think we have the signs of first words. When he sees a banana he will say "Nana!" He used to follow this up with a bunch of nonsense, but now he's more consistently saying "Nana!"

And the other word is the dog's name, Samson. Any time we go to see the dog he will excitedly say, "Sasa?!" He loves that dog. I actually recorded him saying Samson today - I hid the camera so that he din't know I was recording. I tried to recor him saying Banana, but by then he knew the camera was there so he wouldn't repeat it again.

I think he also says Dada, but that is not nearly as consistent yet.

As I've said before he will repeat a lot, but then he doesn't continue with any follow up. We're just now getting some sort of follow up to the Nana and Sasa.

Yay for progress!

Bilingual

So as the worrisome mother that I am, I am starting to get worried about Handsome still not being able to speak. I decided to do some research and found the site http://www.bilingualbabies.org/ which states:

"Do bear in mind that it isn’t unusual for multilingual children to reach their second birthday with four words in their vocabulary."

Grr.

But then there is this:

"Speech disorders do occur, however, in bilingual children as in monolingual children, so if you are truly worried that your child is not understanding you (in any of the languages) or able to carry out commands by age 2, you should ask a professional’s advice."

He is already able to carry out commands in both languages, so at least we have that going for us.

And then:

"By halfway through your child’s third year, you can expect to have heard a few first words at least, and in other children you may have as far as the two-word stage or the telegraphic stage. Next you can look forward to the development of grammar and structure – a new and exciting adventure that is fascinating in that it reveals so much about your child’s thought processes and hypothesis-building strategies in the world of language. Hang on tight – it’s a rollicking ride!"

Rollicking? Really? Sure doesn't feel that way right now.

Understanding Words

Handsome now understands words. These are what he knows so far in English:

Milk
Water
Sippy Cup
Grandma
Grandpa
Mommy
Daddy
Toes
Foot
Ears
Nose
Food
Hungry
Bye bye
Sit
Kiss
Stand
Goldfish
Hug

I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones where I can say things like, "Where is your nose?" And he can point to it.

He knows a similar amount of words in Dagaare.

Now my question is, when will he actually start USING these words??

Oops

Does Oops count as a first word?

DH said Handsome was repeating Oops with him on Tuesday and even said it after he fell. So does that count?

When I got home and DH told me this, I of course had to try it out. I said Oops to see if he would copy. He just smiled at me. Later on in the car though, I repeated it. "Oops." And he said "Tsss" :) So we kept going and he finally said "ootss" That's darn close if you ask me.

We're at least making progress.

Pthupthil

Handsome is taking a new step in his learning speech journey. Over the weekend he has started putting more syllables and different sounds together. Instead of the "babababa," "mamamama," "gogogogo," "gagaga," he has started things like "pthuphilupago." He spits all sorts of sounds out there and looks to see if you understand. He always smiles when he finishes like he has accomplished a great feat.

We're getting closer.

Language

We have one of those toys that spits about five little balls out of the top and you're supposed to go running after them and put them back in the toy. He loves it not so much for the actual point of the game, but rather he likes to take the balls and put them in the spot they are spit out of. When it is on there is air pushing it out, so he keeps trying to put it in and the toy keeps pushing it out. Sometimes another ball will knock his as it attempts to come out - where it is supposed to. Handsome will either grab that ball or let it pass so that he can continue his deliberations. As soon as the timer runs out and the toy turns off, he can successfully put the ball in the hole and then he's all excited. But of course, he goes and pushes the button for it to turn on again and the whole process begins again. He also likes to put the triangle, circle, square, etc, from the shape jar toy inside the ball blowing toy which really messes with the poor fan.

Handsome is starting to understand language. DH will tell him to go pick something up and he will get all excited and walk to pick it up and bring it back to DH. He's all proud of himself when he understands what is going on. When I tell him to go pick something up and bring it to me, there is less of the understanding face. It's more of a, "I think you want me to go pick that up and bring it to you, but why aren't you saying that?" You see, I think he is beginning to understand Dagaare, but his English isn't quite there. DH speaks Dagaare to him all day so he is picking that up, but I spend about an hour each night and then most Saturdays and Sundays with him and that's all I get. I know that eventually his English will outpace his Dagaare since he is in the US, but it still kinda stinks that he doesn't understand me. Now granted, I could start speaking Dagaare to him so that he will be more reinforced there and he will understand me, but my pronunciation isn't the best and I'm afraid I'll mess up his Dagaare. I also wanted him to kinda be clear that Dagaare comes from Dad and English comes from Mom so that he can tell the languages apart in his mind. I don't know. I'm just happy that he is starting to understand a language.

He talks... kinda.

Handsome plays this game now. He'll kinda grunt at you, and then you grunt back. This game continues until he starts laughing. And then it starts all over again. It's so cute.

He's also slowly starting to get restless. Before you could just hold him in your lap and he'd sit there for quite a long time very content. If you put him down he'd start crawling and playing, but he would be very quiet if he just sat in your lap. Now not so much.

You know why this stinks? He is just starting this when I want to go to a political town hall meeting. I want him to go and sit in my lap, but what if his new found mobility and desire to be constantly moving prevents him from being able to sit with me?? I'm going to be SO dissapointed if he won't sit there or if he starts making a bunch of noise. Please Lord let him be content to just sit for a little while!! I actually want to ask a question at the meeting if I can. I want to ask about maternity leave. I don't understand why we are one in three nations that has no provisions for a paid maternity leave. I think it's disgraceful. Anyway, it was hella difficult to get these tickets and if Handsome decides that we can't sit there.. Grr. Please, Handsome, let us go to this meeting and sit through the whole thing!! If only this meeting could have been about four months ago!!

Da, Da, Da, Ba, Ba, Ba

So unfair. How come the M sound has to be more difficult than the D or B? DH is of course ecstatic that Handsome is now calling his name - either Dada or Baba will do. There is no Mama. But I still don't think it counts that he's calling DH's name because he doesn't know what he's saying. He has to KNOW before it counts. Right? Or am I just making excuses so that I'm not sad he can't say my name?

We attempted to go to the gym last night. We hadn't been in a couple weeks and it was 7:30pm. You can see the disastrous scenario right? We got there and just sat him down in his little car seat and he started screaming. Nothing would do. DH stood with him for about 10 minutes so that I could work out for a little bit, but we left shortly thereafter. We HAVE to go to the gym more often. We haven't been going because my schedule changed so that the only time we could go is when Handsome is tired and cranky, plus now I'm afraid of him getting the flu from the other kids if we did go. I'm getting the feeling that Handsome is not going to let any of my family hold him over Christmas. That will be a bummer.

Ga Ga Ga

You know what the most beautiful sound is? "ga ga ga ga.." I LOVE that sound. Yesterday Handsome decided to start babbling with "ga ga ga" and "ba ba ba." It's so cute! It looks like he is finally starting to understand some things and like he is actually trying to say something. He makes the sound by basically sticking his tongue between his lips and closing his mouth. Too cute. He's going to hate me for saying this one day, but he makes his mouth so wide that he looks like a little cow sticking it's tongue out. So cute!!

The other day I came home and DH was holding Handsome. Handsome was crying. I sat down next to DH and took Handsome and he stopped crying. I know it shouldn't make me feel good, but I was so happy that he would stop crying when I took him. Sometimes I feel like he's going to hate me since I leave him to go to work everyday. It just made me feel good that he still knows who I am and wants me to hold him.

Only 7 days left until I leave for Christmas vacation!! Yay!!!